Another One Bites the Dust
by AnimeVikki32
Summary: Kurt Wagner never asked to die. His last painful, gasping breaths could be heard throughout the Institute. The cause of all of this? How could a mother brutally murder her own son? The others are next....NO YAOI
1. Chapter 1 The Flu

**Okay. This is my first X-Men Evolution story. So please, constructive criticisim, no yelling, I'm still learning! :] Thanx. And if I've got some huge factual error in my story, again, I'm learning. I haven't seen part of season 3, and any of season 4 yet(reason: youtube hates me) so maybe that's why. Thanx again, y'all! :]**

**Disclaimer: If I owned this show, would I be writing them on here, or on TV? Think about it..**

**Another note: I don't do yaoi. It's disgusting to me. **

**Kurt does speak a little German in this story(I took German class :D). I'll say up here what it means and you all can look up here when you get to it in the story.**

**Was ist das?: What is it?  
**

**I think that's it. Enjoy the story! :D  
**

Another One Bites the Dust

Summary

Kurt Wagner was your average exchange student from Germany/X-Men mutant- Nightcrawler. He had friends: Scott, Jean, Kitty, Evan, Ororo, Rogue, Professor Xavier, and many more. But with friends, come enemies. Mystique, the X-Men's enemy and Kurt's mother, finds her way into the institute, and things can get messy. Especially when Kurt winds up sick as a dog. Uh-oh.....

Chapter One

Night had fallen at the Xavier Institute. Everyone was soundly sleeping in their rooms. And, as of the moment, nothing wierd was going on. Yet. The wind blew gently outside, a light rain had just begun to fall, everything seemed like a normal night, as was said.

Inside Kurt's room, Kurt was sleeping like a baby. Another typical day, rigorous training sessions can make a guy exhausted. And exhausted Kurt was. He was almost killed today in the danger room when one of the newbies failed to guard him properly. As a result, he ended up inches from boiling lava before Storm stopped everything and turned the simulation off. He has scorch marks all over his fur to prove it.

So Kurt had a rough day like every other mutant there. And little did he know, it was about to get much worse. There was a thump on the door. Loud enough to wake Kurt, but not enough to wake anyone else in the Institute.

Kurt opened his gold eyes just about as slowly as possible. He sat up in a rather groggy manner, and looked around.

"Was ist das?" he whispered. He slowly got up out of bed and made his way to the door. Just as he was about to open it, it flew open. revealing a figure. It was so dark, and Kurt's eyes never fully adjusted, so he couldn't determine who it was.

"What?-" was all he got out before a needle was thrust into the vein in his wrist and he fell limp on the floor. The figure picked him up and laid him back down on his bed and covered him up, just as if nothing had happened.

"They'll never know..." And the figure disappeared.

The next morning, Kitty was on her way downstairs when she noticed Kurt still asleep in his bed. The door was still wide open and Kurt was lying in the same position as he was laid in last night. Kitty rolled her eyes and entered the room. She muttered a 'wake up, you fuzzy elf' to herself and shook him gently. He didn't budge. Kitty scratched her head for a few moments and shook him harder. He rolled over on his side from her shaking, but remained out like a light.

"Like, wake up! No games, Kurt!" she shouted, losing patience, and shook him as hard as she could. Kurt stirred a bit. But he turned to his other side, looking...well...not good. Kitty noticed this and decided to ask:

"Kurt, like, what's wrong? Are you okay?" Kurt promptly ran to the bathroom near his room and threw up.

"Professor!" Kitty yelled as she ran down the hall and eventually found the Professor in the kitchen with the other X-Men. They were eating breakfast. Professor Xavier was sitting in his wheelchair in the corner reading a book, every so often looking up to make sure a food fight didn't start.

Kitty ran into the kitchen like a rocket. She skidded over to the Professor, almost falling in her rush. Professor Xavier's head shot out of his book at Kitty's arrival.

"Ah, Kitty. You're here. Hurry up and eat. Logan's going to run a practice session in the Danger Room right after breakfast. Where's Kurt?" Kitty stood herself upright and attempted to calm herself down. She hated seeing people sick. Especially her friends.

"That's, like, what I wanted to tell you, Professor. I went into his room to wake him up. He was out like a light. So after he finally got up, he ran straight to the bathroom and puked. Ugh! It was, like, disgusting! But, anyway, the point is, I think Kurt's sick!"

The Professor looked at Kitty a little longer to find any trace of a joke. After confirming she was serious, (mind reading of course) he followed her upstairs to Kurt's room. As they got up there, Kurt was in his bed, clutching his stomach in order to avoid another vomiting episode. Kitty and the Professor stared at Kurt for a moment. He rolled the wheelchair up to his bed and tried to communicate with Kurt using telepathy.

"Kurt! Can you here me?"

"Y-Yeah..." the professor heard in a heavy German accent.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes. It's just the flu. I'll be okay. False alarm."

"Alright. Get well. I'll have Storm come in and check on you in a little bit. Are you hungry at all?"

"No."

"Right. Well, get better." then Professor Xavier turned to Kitty "It's all right, Kitty. He just has the flu." And he wheeled out of the room, leaving Kitty to stand there and watch Kurt in his discomfort and wonder if he really was okay, or if something else was brewing. Kitty Pryde just stood there and let her mind wonder.

**That's it for chapter one. I hope it isn't as bad as I made it sound. Please review. **


	2. Chapter 2 Life or Death

**Hey. I hope the last chapter wasn't too bad! :] Here's the next one. **

**Another One Bites The Dust**

Chapter Two

As Kitty was standing there, a light sparkle caught the corner of her eye. She turned and walked over to it. Squinting her eyes as she looked down, Kitty's suspicions were suddenly confirmed. A shiny needle was what had caught her eye. She picked it up and examined it for a little bit. It was empty, but the remains inside were fresh, that much she could tell. The few remains that were there were a red-orange color, like no other liquid Kitty'd ever seen before outside of a popsicle or a Kool-aid drink.

"Like, what is this stuff? And why is it in Kurt's room?" Kitty took it back to her room and left Kurt alone. By now, he had fallen asleep.

A couple hours later, Storm came in to check on Kurt, just as Professor Xavier had promised. She sat down on the edge of the bed beside the fuzzy elf and shook him slightly to wake him up. He turned so he was lying on his back and opened his eyes.

"Storm?"

"Just here to give you some nourishment. The Professor sent me." Storm told him as she set a tray with a glass of water and a sandwich on the nightstand beside the bed.

"Thanks, Storm." Storm nodded and left the room. Kurt sat up weakly and drank some water. The most he could swallow was a few sips before his stomach began to act up once more. So he put the glass back down on the tray and tried his best to keep his body under check and forced himself to sleep again.

Back at the Brotherhood hideout, Mystique was spending what the others thought to be way to much time in her room. She stood in front of her dresser and focused her glare on the mirror. Her reflection was bothering her. It seemed to taunt her. She couldn't believe what she had done. The guilt was eating her alive. She knew she wouldn't have done it if she'd had a choice. No way! This was her son! Her own flesh and blood! No matter what side he was on, the X-Men or the Brotherhood, she would always love him. But because of this obvious set-back, she couldn't always protect him. No, sometimes she had to hurt him against her will. This was one of those times. She just prayed that he wouldn't die before she was able to see him again.

Mystique walked over to her bed and began to lay down, closing her eyes as tears streamed down her face.

It had been a few days since Kurt fell ill. And everyone was scared stiff. Logan and Ororo were with Professor Xavier in his lab/study discussing the subject. Professor looked exremely troubled. So did Ororo and Logan.

"With all due respect, Charles, Kurt is very ill. I've been in his room three times a day for the past almost week. He hardly eats anything and his fur is rapidly growing from blue to pale gray. He is getting sicker and much weaker. I ask him to get out of bed and exercise for awhile and he claims his strength is completely zapped. I'm telling you, Charles, he's going to need a hospital soon. I don't know how much more I can do. Even with all of our technology." Ororo aka the infamous Storm explained.

"I'm with the Weather Witch." Logan agreed "The elf hasn't attended even one of my training sessions since he got sick."

"I know. But what can we do? Kurt is a mutant. Puting him in a regular hospital is too dangerous. But on the other hand, I am aware of what can happen if we don't do something other than what we're doing now. We have to expect the worst. What if we do put Kurt in a hospital? And he..." Charles Xavier paused here "he dies. All of us will be exposed. Their lives are rough enough already. We can't take the risk."

Logan, Ororo, and Charles all hung their heads in the silence. They were all aware of everything that would/could happen in a matter of even days. The risk was very dangerous, sure. But this wasn't preschool anymore. This wasn't just whether or not a child could just go to timeout for awhile. This was a matter of life or death. Kurt's.

**I hope this chapter was a bit better. No German this time. Kurt didn't really talk at all much this time. Anyway, hope y'all liked it! :] **


	3. Chapter 3 Attempted Murder

**Here's Chapter three. I gots one review! Yeah! Enjoy this chapter!**

**Another One Bites the Dust**

Chapter Three

Scott and Jean were sitting on the couch in the living room of the mansion. They were all worried about Kurt. The night before the Professor, Logan, and Ororo had called them all to that same spot they were sitting in now to tell them that Kurt was getting worse, and now they're almost posative that it's something other than the flu that's ailing the fallen team mate. It was just so depressing around the Institute without Kurt to randomly pop in and out of rooms and get in everybody's way all the time. Kurt Wagner was the sort of guy who nobody could hate. Sure he was an idiot a lot of the time, but he was in the sort of way that made everyone laugh with him. He kept everything interesting. And things were just so glum without his teasing. Everyone felt it. Everyone.

"Hey, Jean?" Scott muttered in a rather worried tone.

"Yeah, Scott?" Jean replied, curious.

"Do you think...I mean....what the Professor said last night....well....what if Kurt doesn't make it?" Jean's heart froze in her chest.

"Scott, you're being silly. Of course he's going to make it. It's just the flu, remember?"

"No, Jean. It's not the flu. Professor X said that last night at the meeting. I know you want to believe that everything's just fine, but it isn't. Kurt's really sick. He's never been this sick before. And the Professor didn't say this, but I could read it all over his face. He doesn't think Kurt's going to make it either. We just have to accept it, Jean. The X-Men are going to lose a member here pretty soon. Permanently. And there's nothing we can do."

"No, Scott! We can't be like this! We have to believe that he'll be okay. If we lose faith, then that's when it's really over." And Jean stormed out of the room. Scott sat there, head hung low in worry and doubt. And spirits practically in the ground.

Kitty sat in her room fingering the needle she found in Kurt's room. She had no idea what it was, or if it would have any connection to Kurt's sickness, but her instinct was telling her to go see the Professor about it. So slowly and glumly Kitty walked to Kurt's room to take a brief glance inside. The normally happy-go-lucky blue elf was lying in bed groaning in his undoubtable fever. Tears streamed down Kitty's face as she quietly shut the door and turned her head. She continued down the hall to see the Professor.

As she peeked inside the room she saw Professor Xavier in his wheelchair reading a book.

"Professor X? There's something I'd like to show you. It's about Kurt."

The Professor looked up from his book and looked over at Kitty standing in the doorway. She was holding the needle.

"Yes, come in, Kitty. What is it?"

Kitty walked over to the Professor and with a shaking hand, gave him the needle that she had found in Kurt's room what seemed like months ago. Just as Charles Xavier took the needle from Kitty's hand, she broke down. She fell to her knees beside the Professor's wheelchair and cried like mad. The Professor patted Kitty's head as she wept.

"Oh, Professsor! I don't want Kurt to die! It'll be so lonely without him! Please! There must be something you can do!"

"I'm sorry, Kitty. We can do absolutely nothing. We've tried everything we could. Nothing is working. Now, I'm curious, Kitty. Where did you find this needle?"

"In *sniff* Kurt's room."

The Professor's eyes widened and he immediately began to run tests. After a few hours, he concluded.

"No...Kurt didn't catch this sickness naturally! This was attempted murder!" Suddenly Logan burst into the room.

"Scratch out the attempted part. I'd hurry upstairs to Kurt's room if I were you, Charles." Professor Xavier froze....

**How was that? I hope y'all like! :] Reviews make writers happy! :]**


	4. Chapter 4 Kurt's Death

**Hai! I'm back! I got more reviews :]! This chapter you could kind of look at as Kurt/Kitty if you want to. **

**Another One Bites the Dust**

Chapter Four

Professor Xavier and Kitty both were in absolute shock. Logan didn't have to say it. They knew. Kurt was going to die. The three of them stood there and just stared at each other. They knew what was happening, but that still didn't mean they fully believed it. _Kurt is going to die. _In Kitty's mind, those words just couldn't be used in the same sentence. And Kitty was sure the Professor was thinking the same thing.

"Come on!" Logan screamed as he interrupted the moment "Let's go! The elf's gonna die and you two are just standing there! Everyone else is up there already waiting for you!"

At that Professor Xavier and Kitty moved as fast as they could upstairs to Kurt's room. Logan followed behind them.

Once they got up there, it was just the most awful thing anybody could imagine possibly happening at the Institute. Only the main X-Men were allowed in, the ones who knew Kurt the most. Scott was standing by the bed closer to Kurt's head. Jean was leaning on Scott's shoulder crying her eyes out. Evan was with his aunt Ororo on the opposite side of Kurt's head. Evan was looking down staring at the floor and Ororo was staring at Kurt, eyes misty. Rogue was standing beside Scott and Jean just staring at Kurt with this scowl of 'why did this happen?' written all over her face.

And Kurt was the worst of them all. He was lying in his bed in what looked like the most uncomfortable position. His fur was pure gray now instead of blue. His gold eyes looked so pale, they were completely white. His voice was so weak, it was less than a whisper. One could tell it pained him to talk, or make any sort of movement whatsoever.

Kitty, Professor Xavier, and Logan moved around the bed to where Evan and Ororo were and stood beside them(or in Professor's case: 'sat in a wheelchair', not 'stand'). And from where she was standing, Kitty Pryde sneaked over and grabbed Kurt Wagner's hand, and held it inside her own.

"Kurt?" she whispered. And even though it was a whisper, she knew Kurt could hear every word of it.

"Kurt? Hang in there, you fuzzy elf." Just then her voice began to waver as she felt the tears coming on once more.

"Come on! I know you can beat this! You've always been strong enough before! Now is no different! You just have to *sniff* you have to live, Kurt. Nobody gathered here wants to see you die. You know that. Not Logan, not Scott, not Jean, not Rogue, not anybody! And especially not me! So just, like, live, okay? Please? Like I said, nobody wants to see you die, Kurt. You're our *sniff* our best friend. So just *sniff* don't die.....please, Kurt....don't die..."

Kurt's once gold eyes rolled over to rest on Kitty. He felt Kitty holding his hand and he squeezed hers. As tight as he could manage. And for the first time all day, Kurt spoke.

"Kitty...." he whispered "Be calm. I'll be okay. Maybe not in body, but in spirit. And you know I'm dying, Kitty. I can't do anything to stop it. I'm....sorry...." His voice rose so evveryone could hear.

"I'm sorry, everyone. Sorry for popping in and out of places. Sorry for causing you so much pain. I guess no good could possibly come from being a blue freak. I'm going to miss you all. I love you all as if you were my brothers and sisters. Goodbye. I'll....miss...you..."

And that was it. Kurt took his last breaths and his hand went limp in Kitty's hand. She felt him just...fade. Everyone did. Tears flowed from every heart that moment. Kitty fell to her knees, her head falling on Kurt's bed. And she cried.

Just then, Mystique entered the room, too late.

**Aww....*sniff* now I feel like Kitty.... Please review....*sniff* **


	5. Chapter 5 The Awful Choice

**Another One Bites the Dust**

Chapter Five

Mystique looked around the room. Her eyes were surprised beyond all recognition. Logan was on the ball. He was right in front of her immediately, claws shown and in battle stance. Mystique saw this and backed away. She put her hands in front of her face and turned her head.

"No. I don't want any trouble. Really. I just want to see my son."

"Well, you're too late, bub!" Logan snarled "He died mere moments ago! So I'd leave if I were you!" He got right up in Mystique's face and put one of his claws up to her throat. Professor Xavier wheeled over and stopped him.

"Logan let her speak. She is Kurt's mother, after all." Logan backed away and sheathed his claws.

"Now, Mystique, please." and he motioned toward Kurt's lifeless body "But as Logan did say, he did die mere moments ago."

Mystique walked solemnly over to Kurt and just stared at him for a few minutes. Everyone in the room stared back at her. She grabbed his hand like Kitty had a short while ago and brought it up to her cheek. She felt the now cold fur of his hand on her face and a tear trickled from her eye. She saw his blank face and the tears sped up and her breaths got quicker. She was about to break down and she knew it. She wished she'd never listened to him. Kill your son! Hah! But she never thought she'd ever go through with it. Now she stared at the dead face of her son, and wished she'd just ignored his orders when she told him to kill Kurt. She was promised power in return. So much power, she didn't know what to do with it all. The offer seemed so good then. About a week ago. Now the only thing she owned was misery, not power. Yeah, they were on opposite sides: good and evil, but Kurt Wagner would always be her baby boy. And to think of what she had done. Caused this. Her heart grew cold.

Just then Professor Xavier came over to her.

"Feeling sorry? You should. You did this." Every mouth dropped to the floor.

"Professor! Mystique did this? I get she's evil, but..." Jean exclaimed, her voice trailing off.

"But Kurt was her son! My stepbrother!" Rogue cried.

"But...how did you know?" Scott asked in shock. The Professor sighed and turned to face the X-Men.

"I never would have found out if it weren't for the needle Kitty found in Kurt's room. She brought it to me and I ran a few tests. After a couple hours, it was clear. The last person other than obviously Kurt and Kitty to come in contact with the needle was Mystique. She had been the one to stab it into Kurt to inject the lethal liquid in to his bloodstream, thus, giving him the illness that killed him. What I don't understand is why. We knew you were against the X-Men, Mystique, but kill your own son? We didn't think you were that far gone."

Mystique glanced around the room for a bit. Looking at all the surprised, shocked, and disappointed faces staring back at her.

"I never wanted to kill Kurt. I was told to. If I did, I'd get ultimate power. Which, by the way, I never got. Now, I'd do anything in my power to bring him back. But I can't. And that hurts worse than any injury anyone could ever inflict."

Somewhere, an evil laugh rung out.

**I know it was kinda short. But I hope you liked it either way. I tried to make it so the readers would get the hint that Mystique wasn't the only one behind Kurt's death. Reviews make me happy! :]**


	6. Chapter 6 School and Amanda

**Another One Bites the Dust**

Chapter Six

At school the next day, right before they left, Professor Xavier told them that Kurt's body would be sent back to Germany to be buried near where his adoptive parents lived. So that entire day at school all they could think of was Mr. and Mrs. Wagner getting the news about their son and weeping as they brought out his body to be buried. Every class they were distracted. All the X-Men. The teachers noticed things like staring out windows in the middle of tests, not taking notes when they should have been, and not playing as well as they should in gym class. And not to mention, there was one more matter to take care of: Amanda.

Amanda was on vacation all the week Kurt was ill and dying. She had no clue. Somebody had to tell her that her boyfriend had died.

So by lunch time, all the X-Men minus the obvious one were sitting at their usual table. When Amanda got her lunch, she came over to their table and popped the question.

"Hey, guys. Why so glum? Say by the way, where's Kurt today? I haven't seen him at all."

They all hung their heads.

"Guys?"

Jean, Kitty, and Rogue stood up and came over to her. They set her lunch tray on the table and motioned her to follow them. After a bit they came to the girls bathroom. Fortunately, it was empty.

"Why are we in here?" Amanda asked. Kitty began to tell her.

"Amanda, we, like, brought you in here for a reason." Then Rogue continued.

"We don't want you to break down in front of the whole school. We wanted to keep this private." Jean finished it off.

"Listen to me, Amanda. You asked where Kurt was and this is the hardest thing I've ever had to tell anyone, but I have no other choice."

"What? Did something happen?" Amanda questioned. Jean almost broke into tears herself.

"Amanda, while you were on vacation Kurt got sick. And throughout the week, it got worse. Listen to me, Amanda. Kurt....he's...." a small tear got loose "He's dead. Kurt died yesterday while you were still gone. I'm sorry. You understand why we brought you in here to tell you rather than in front of everyone."

Amanda just stood there, mouth agape. Her body trembled. Her face reddened. Her eyes became moist. And Jean, Kitty, and Rogue watched her; the news they had delivered her. And almost wished they had lied to her just to keep from seeing this. It was awful; it truly was. Delivering news of a dead friend. Especially to someone who cared so much about him. Sure, they all had cared about Kurt. But his relationship with Amanda was a powerful one. And they never even got to say goodbye to each other. It was cruel, but that's the way life is.

"So...so....so Kurt's...." she couldn't finish. Jean, Kitty, and Rogue all nodded sadly.

"And since I was on vacation....nobody told me?" They nodded again.

"Amanda, I, like, know what you're going through. Kurt was like a brother to me. When I first met him, I hated him. He was an annoying dork to me, but I grew to love him. Back then, I never would have thought that if he were to die, how much I'd really miss him." Kitty explained.

"Guys, when I first saw Kurt, I thought he was just some backwards teenage boy who was shaky at speaking proper English. As I began to have classes with him, I began to realize that he wasn't backwards. He was having fun. I'd see him dance on tables outside with no one but you guys around, or so you thought. I was watching him. To see what kind of person he was. But I always knew he was...special...somehow. Then when that day came that I saw him transform all blue and furry and teleport out of the school, it was confirmed: I liked him. So I asked him to the dance so I could get to know him better. And the rest, they say, is history." Amanda told them.

"Well, don't worry. Kurt's happiness and energy will live on in all of us. Although it will be quite a bit quieter around here." and Jean put her hand on Amanda's shoulder.

And for the first time all day, everything seemed....alright...

**I know, no bad guys in this one. There will be, though. Very soon....*evil laugh XD* Thanx to everyone who reviewed! :D**


	7. Chapter 7 The Human Ghoul

**I got some awsome reviews so far, so here's the next chapter. A closer look at the creep behind the murder! :]**

**Another One Bites the Dust**

Chapter Seven

Mystique sat in her room on her bed thinking about Kurt. That liar that made her kill him was gonna pay big time! Seconds after that thought went through her mind, a dark figure materialized right in front of her. It was in a cloak, black as night. He had a hood over most of his face, so his identity was still a mystery. All that could be seen was the intense glare of his deep blue eyes. Eyes that told the story of years of experience and evil. One look in those eyes and Mystique herself shivered in fear. She focused on the figure in front of her.

"You." she muttered "Why are you here? You already had me kill my son! What else do you want from me!?!?!?!?!?" The figure chuckled a bit, but soon regained control.

"Yes, I did have you kill Kurt. And I must say, what a fine job you did. But now I need something else from you, Mystique. Something bigger than just one person." Mystique's face twisted into an angry scowl.

"What now? No power you promise me will persuade me to do any more of your dirty work!"

"No, No, my dear. This is something you want as well."

"Something I want!?!?!?" Mystique growled "What could possibly cause you to believe I would want anything you do?!?!?!?!"

"Trust me. You want it. Besides, you know what I can do if you don't do what I say." the cloaked figure proceeded to walk around the room as he continued "Mind reading, mind control, black fire, black ectoplasm. I can command every spirit and ghoul in the next life! Do you want that?" Mystique gulped and shook her head 'no'.

"I didn't think so. Now, will you listen to what I have to say?"

After being completely immobilized by fear only moments ago, Mystique quickly regained her composure.

"No. I will never commit any crime for you. Any crime I commit is for my purposes, not yours. Even though you are a powerful mutant." The cloaked figure laughed.

"Extremely powerful. But I told you, you want it, too. And you know that if you don't do it, I can just brainwash you to do it anyway. You're trapped either way!" And he laughed for about the third time in the last few minutes. Mystique sat on the bed for a little longer. She pondered her situation. Went over every possible escape from this. What was he going to have her do next? Kill Rogue? She was adopted, but still... It was hard. Finally:

"What do you want me to do?"

The dark figure's mouth twisted into a crooked, wicked smile and he gave, once more, another light chuckle.

"I knew you'd come to your senses sooner or later. Now listen closely, my orders are very simple. But make the smallest mistake, and you'll face consiquences. Consiquences so great, you may not survive them. Got it?" Mystique nodded.

"I want you to kill every X-Man in Charles Xavier's Institute. Including Charles Xavier himself, got it? And do it all without being noticed in even the slightest bit. I want every one of those X-Brats to suffer the might of all of heaven and hell! Understand?"

Mystique froze again and slowly nodded once more to show that she understood completely. Her blue skin paled in complete fear and seeing this, the dark figure grinned harshly.

"B-but. How?"

"Like this." And he told Mystique every bit of his plans for the X-Men. As those gruesome words were spoken, the aura in the air dropped to a level that almost made every telepath in the world sick just to think about it. Including Professor Xavier. While sitting in his wheelchair and staring out the window he muttered under his breath:

"Something's coming. And it will be our toughest battle yet. For I sense the coming of the Human Ghoul!"

**Hope that's good enough. Enjoy and review! :]**


	8. Chapter 8 Good and Scared

**Here's chapter eight! :] Hope y'all like! :]**

**Another One Bites the Dust**

Chapter Eight

Evan was doing some homework by the fireplace one night. It was so quiet around the Institute since Kurt died._ Everyone's been so silent. Even during Logan's sessions, nobody talks to each other and we all almost get killed. Professor X is getting kinda mad at us._ Evan was thinking as he tried to do his algebra. it was so hard to focus.

The clock struck midnight. Evan quickly looked frantically around the room, but after awhile, gave it up. He was so used to it now, it was hard to believe that it would never happed again. Every time Evan did homework, Kurt would jump on him at 12:00 midnight. He knew that was when Evan was always doing his homework. When it was too dark to skateboard. But tonight, Kurt was dead and Evan realized that he would never get jumped on again. To most, this would come as a relief, but to Evan this was a curse. Sure he had hated it at first, but he had grown accustomed to it. Kurt being dead was still too unreal to believe.

"Oh, Kurt, man, you didn't really have to die, did you? You're just away on vacation, right? Or a trick. This was one of your little ruses to trick us, right? And tomorrow you'll be jumping on me at midnight laughing and rolling on the floor like you always do. Right? You always do stuff like that, right? Right? Right?" Evan put his algebra book on the floor beside the chair he was sitting in and just stared at the fireplace.

"Kurt, you big dummy. You just had to die and leave all of us here to mourn, didn't you?" After a few more minutes of ranting to himself he sighed. _I guess things will be different now, eh buddy?_

Just then, as Evan was staring at the fire in the fireplace, he thought he saw it form into a face for a few moments. He froze where he was and tried to perform the impossible task of focusing on algebra once more.

Upstairs in her room, Kitty was listening to her radio. It was one of her upbeat pop cds. To keep her mind off Kurt. But to her surprise, the radio shut off. She quickly turned toward the radio and checked it. It was still plugged in, switch was flipped to the 'on' position, so what could have messed with it?

"Whoever, like, messed with my radio's gonna pay! Ugh!" Kitty shouted.

"Gottcha, Kitty!"

Kitty turned around again to see the faint, misty form of Kurt standing right there in the middle of her room.

"Kurt!?!?!?!" she screamed. He disappeared.

She sat there staring at where he had been standing. A ghost? She remembered when Kurt was still alive, he used to come in and trick her like that. She'd have her music on so loud that she wouldn't hear him transport into her room and flip the switch on her radio. Back then she got annoyed. But now she kind of missed it. A little. Like she missed Kurt. This whole thing was just messing with her mind way too much...

Jean was in the danger room with Logan working on a private session before Jean could head off to bed for the night. It was a battle simulation where she had to try to dodge all the cannons and get to the other side of the danger room in a certain amount of time. A simple speed drill. As she got to about the halfway mark of the room, one of the cannons just stopped and shut down. Jean screamed up to Logan:

"What was that about? What happened up there?" Logan screamed back:

"I don't know. It just shut down for no reason. Hang on, let me try to put it back online.....yep....there we go....good as new."

"Thanks!" And Jean finished the drill with no problem at all. But as she finished it she wondered. Kurt used to do that to her all the time to trick her; fake her out. Could it be...? No, ghosts don't exist. How silly! But she couldn't help but let her mind wonder, even if only a little...

Somewhere not so distant...

"Okay, Mystique, the first three are set up; good and scared. Now it's your turn..."


	9. Chapter 9 They Find Kitty

**Another One Bites the Dust**

Chapter Nine

Mystique watched Kitty, Evan, and Jean intently.

"Are you sure?" she asked. The cloaked figure glared at her.

"Why wouldn't I be sure? Now go!" Mystique nodded and entered the Institute. The cloaked figure promptly used some kind of mystical force to disable the alarm system.

Everything was still. At midnight, everyone except Kitty, Jean, and Evan were asleep. The recent hauntings were scaring them to death. They sat and thought about what had happened. Should they tell the Professor? They didn't think it was imporant enough. Of course a lot of things seemed unimportant before turned out to be the most important in the end. As Kitty sat in her room she was thinking this. She got up off her bed and headed to the Professor's room. _He might be annoyed that I woke him up, but if it saves us all, who, like, cares? _Kitty thought.

She turned a corner to the Professor's room, but just as she was about to open the door, Mystique appeared in front of it. Kitty froze.

"Hello, Kitty. Surprised at how I got in? If I were you, I wouldn't spend so much time thinking about it." She whispered.

"Why are you whispering? Don't you want to wake the Professor? If you do anything to me, I'll scream! He'll hear me and wake up! And he'll finish you off!" Kitty announced. Mystique growled. _I could use some help here. A silencing technique would be nice. _Outside, the cloaked mutant growled.

"Must I do everything for you?" he asked through telepathy.

The cloaked figure disappeared and reformed inside the Institute beside Mystique.

"Silence, chatty girl. You talk too much. Let's fix that." He walked up to her, Kitty still frozen in fear. She could see him chanting some sort of spell or something and her voice went away. It...faded. Just like that. She stared wide-eyed at Mystique and the cloaked figure.

"And just to make sure nobody else hears what we're going to do to you, here's something else. It'll put a complete silence on the entire mansion. No matter what is done, even the breaking of glass, nobody will hear it. Now..." And a flash temporarily engulfed the entire Institute. It soon faded. Kitty was just standing there, now backed up against the wall, scared out of her wits. And because of the silence that was cast over the Institute, he could yell and scream and bang on everything in sight, but nobody would hear a thing. She was really done in this time.

Mystique came forward with a shot gun in her hands. She knew that the extent of her mutant powers was to shape-shift. She couldn't do anything else. So, therefore, she needed something to use to attack Kitty. But still, Kitty had the power to phase through solid objects. She could just phase through the bullets. Unless....

The cloaked figure came forward again and put his hand on Mystique's shoulder as if to say 'wait a moment'. He chanted a few unheard words to himself and allowed Mystique to come forth once more. Mystique knew what he had done. He had disabled Kitty's powers. She couldn't phase through anything. Just as if she was a normal human being.

Mystique put the gun up to Kitty's head. She was stuck there, in a silent scream. The fear eating her alive. But seconds before Mystique pulled the trigger, Kitty moved. So instead of hitting her head like it was meant to, the bullet hit Kitty's left shoulder. She continued to fall to her left side, landing hard on her shoulder and screaming painfully, a scream that was also not heard. Mystique left with the cloaked figure to find Evan and Jean.

Kitty brought herself to her feet and stumbled over to the Professor's room, clutching her shoulder tightly. With the silencing spell still in effect, waking him up would be quite a challenge. A challenge Kitty was up to. She staggered over to Professor Xavier's bed, grabbed his shoulder and shook him with all her might in an effort to awake him. Surprisingly, he awoke and immediately realized what was going on (Gotta love that mind reading!!).

Relief flooded Kitty as she realized that maybe her friends wouldn't die after all. Maybe.

**I hope that was good enough. Review plz. :]**


	10. Chapter 10 The First Fight

**The first real introduction to the main villain contained inside here!!! :] **

**Another One Bites the Dust**

Chapter Ten

After Professor Xavier got into his wheelchair he and Kitty rushed downstairs to Evan and Jean, who were still up. Since they couldn't speak to each other, it was the Professor's idea to talk telepathically.

"Kitty! What happened here? How is your shoulder? Should I get Beast?" he asked her frantically. The last thing he wanted was for another one of the X-Men to die. Kitty shook her head.

"No. I'm getting back at Mystique and her little friend for Killing Kurt!" Professor Xavier sighed.

"Well, let's make this quick. I don't want to lose another mutant, fair enough?" Kitty nodded. Professor Xavier rolled his eyes, figuring it was going to have to work. So the pair continues to search for Jean and Evan in the hopes that they were all right.

Pretty soon they reached the main Living Room and found Jean and Evan backed up against the wall terrified. Mystique was pinning them there just incase and the cloaked figure seemed to be chanting something unheard as ghostly shapes swirled around him like something sraight out of a horror film. He snapped his fingers and everyone went 'bamf' like when Kurt transports. And they all reappeared in a cemetery close by.

"Now we can talk and nobody is around to hear us! Besides, I have a few things to say to you Professor! So I just couldn't keep quiet! Do you like how I turned out? Did pretty well without your stupid Insitiute! It's all right! Nobody there liked me, anyway! That's why I left! Now I'm glad I did! Because I'm stronger than I ever would have been at that place!" And he finished his rant off with a maniacal laugh. Kitty, still clutching her shoulder, turned to Professor Xavier.

"Who's that, Professor? Did he once live at the Institute?"she asked.

"Yes, Kitty. And he was very powerful. But he would always pull pranks on the others. Like Kurt did, except Kurt did it out of fun, he did it because he got a kick out of scaring people. They all hated him because of it. They called him names and tried to pull the same pranks on him that he pulled on them. But he would always injure them severely with his mutant abilities before they could pull anything. They used to say he wasn't a mutant. They said he was a demon. I tried to the best of my abilities to keep a lid on things, but it never worked. So one day I called him into my study to talk some sense into him. Instead, he grabbed his things and ran away. And I never saw him again until now. His mutant name? The Human Goul." Professor Xavier explained. Kitty just stared at him wide-eyed. The cloaked figure just laughed again.

"Yes, that pretty much sums it up. But I've decided I don't like my mutant name. Reminds me too much of my days at the Institute. You can call me The Demonic Deathbringer! And as the Demonic Deathbringer, I will bring death to you all!!!" Kitty and Professor Xavier were just beginning to realize how much of a bad idea this actually turned out to be.

Jean and Evan were sitting on the ground, leaning up against a tombstone. They were looking up at Kitty's shoulder in bewilderment. Jean was the second person to freak.

"Kitty! You're shoulder! What happened? It looks like a gunshot wound!"

Deathbringer charged at Kitty with anger in his eyes. His hands began to glow black and after a few moments, the black glow turned into black fire. He stopped abruptly and threw as much fire as he could muster at Kitty and the Professor. Kitty grabbed the Professor's wheelchair and turned them both intangible. The fire passed right through them.

"It's alright, Jean! I'll manage! Just go get the others! You and Evan! Please I don't know how much of this dodging I can keep up. He's going to disable me eventually! Come on!" Jean listened to her friend and nodded. She grabbed Evan's wrist and dragged him back towards the Institute. It was a bit of a walk, but after a little while, they reached it. Meanwhile...

"I'll kill you both! With this spell!" And the Deathbringer chanted an ancient chant.

Kitty's shoulder was bleeding badly, now. Her shirt was soaked and almost dyed completely red from the blood. And it was stinging badly. She felt the white-hot pain as it coursed through her shoulder and all the way down her side. Suddenly snapping Kitty out of her trance, Deathbringer threw more fire. And this time, she was unable to go intangible.

**Hey! The first actual fight! Plz read and review! **


	11. Chapter 11 The Call for Reinforcements

**Another One Bites the Dust**

Chapter Eleven

Kitty stood there, terrified as the fire came closer and closer. Professor Xavier moved out of the way with his wheelchair. Kitty jumped, tripping over a tombstone and landing face-first on the ground. She quickly sat up and stared at the mutant before her. She watched silently as he ordered Mystique to find Jean and Evan. If she got to them....it was all over....for good....

"Kitty!" Professor Xavier called "It's the spell he chanted! It's disabling our mutant powers!"

As Deathbringer got closer and closer, Kitty backed up farther and farther. He put his hand out to the side like he was going to throw more fire, but instead, ghosts of every shape were swirling around his hand. Kitty was frightened out of her mind. She tried to back up more, but hit a tree. She was too scared to move around it.

The ghosts that swirled around his hand were getting faster and were now screeching horribly; like demons.

"W-What will they, like, do to me?"

"Listen closely my dear girl. And look into my hand..."

All the ghosts except one disappeared. The one left stopped spinning and screeching. It formed a face. The face it had when it's body was alive. The face of Kurt Wagner. Kitty panicked.

"Kurt!"

"Kitty!" Kurt screamed back "What happened? Where am I?"

"It's a new mutant! You died and he brought you back to earth using his mutant abilities! But watch out, he's evil!" Deathbringer laughed.

"Indeed, I am!" And he put his other hand above Kurt's spirit. Kurt immediately began to scream and began to fade slightly. A ghostly green glow shone from Deathbringer's other hand and apparently, it was too much for Kurt. Whatever it was. Kitty was about to find out.

"What are you doing to him!?!?!?!" she wailed. Deathbringer laughed again.

"I'm sucking the ectoplasm, the ghost energy, from him. If I do this long enough, his soul will cease to exist!" Kitty felt like her heart had just been stabbed. She watched in awe as Kurt faded more and more. He floated there in Deathbringer's hand with the expression of pure agony on his face. Kitty'd had enough. She got up and tackled Deathbringer, causing the green glow to stop and Kurt to disappear. Kitty slowly got up and looked at herself as if she had just committed a murder.

"Wha- What did I,like, do? Kurt...is he...?"

"No. Kurt's soul is fine. By now it should be back in the Afterlife. But if you would have hesitated any longer he might have been gone." An expression of relief had overcome Kitty's features.

"But now," Deathbringer continued "Since he got away....I must kill somebody in his place...." and an evil laugh broke out. Kitty tried to run some more, but the wound in her shoulder was aching like mad and she had lost too much blood to have even close to enough energy. So she let herself drop where she was in front of the tree. Deathbringer got closer and closer until their noses almost touched.

"Since you don't have a lot of energy left, I'll just painfully rip the rest from your heart, if that's okay with you." And he put his hand near her chest and a red glow was seen. Kitty started screaming until her pretty much lifeless body dropped to the ground.....

"Come on! Kitty can't hold him off for very long!" Jean commanded as her and Evan ran throughout the Institute. They came to Scott's bedroom. Evan busted the door down as Jean ran inside to try to wake Scott. She shook him voilently as she screamed pretty much at the top of her lungs.

"Scott! Scott! Please wake up! It's Kitty and the Professor! Please!" Scott sat up and felt around his nightstand for his sun glasses. Once he had them on he opened his eyes to see Jean's frantic face.

"Whoa, whoa! What happened?"

"Kitty and the Professor have run into a new mutant and they're being attacked! Kitty can't hold them off for long! Come on! Oh, and Evan! You go find Rogue. Get her to go to the old cemetery not far from here." Evan nodded and hurried off. Scott and Jean ran to wait for them by the front door to the Institute. Once the four of them had met up by the door, they were just about to head for the cemtery, when....

"Finally. I've got you."

"Mystique!"


	12. Chapter 12 Another One Down

**Another One Bites the Dust**

Chapter Twelve

Mystique stood there like a lion hunting its prey; blocking the exit. She was holding the gun in her hand, the same one used on Kitty. Jean, Scott, Evan, and Rogue stood there and just stared at Mystique in surprise and anger. Every mind was occupied with formulating a plan to get away safely. Mystique laughed.

"How's it going? Haven't seen you four since Kurt died." she held the gun out and pointed it at Scott "You're the strongest. I'll take you out first."

Scott panicked. His immediate response was to fire lasers at Mystique. So that's what he did. Mystique jumped from the line of fire and landed behind Scott. She put the gun up to the back of Scott's neck. Just as she was about to pull the trigger, Jean intervened. She tackled Mystique to the ground and knocked the gun from her grip. This impact caused Scott to tumble over as well.

Rogue and Evan stood in amazement. Jean flipped Mystique on her stomach and locked her hands behind her back.

"Quick, Rogue, now! While I've still got her held down!" Rogue responded quickly to Jean's call. She put her hand on Mystique's arm and Mystique fell unconscious. Her memories coursed through Rogue's brain as she searched them for information about why all this was happening, and how things were with Kitty and the Professor. Rogue's eyes saddened as she found the answers to all of her questions.

"Guys...."

"What?" Evan asked almost too eagerly.

"Things aren't going well with Kitty and the Professor. Kitty's....down....and this mutant is after the Professor next." Everyone's faces fell.

"By down, you mean...." Jean started. Rogue nodded.

"Well, Scott, you and Evan get Mystique out of here before she wakes up. Rogue and I will head back down to the cemetery to help Kitty. Follow after you take care of what needs to be taken care of." And her and Rogue ran out without another word. After they were gone, Scott and Evan dragged Mystique deep into a nearby forest and tied her to a tree.

"Alright. now let's meet up with Jean and Rogue." Evan nodded at Scott's words and in no time at all, all four had been reunited.

Kitty's near lifeless body lay at Deathbringer's feet. He laughed triumphantly at the sky as he announced:

"The Deathbringer has brought the darkness of death once again!!!!" Professor Xavier, hearing this, assumed (correctly) the worst. Kitty was dead. And the others were next. Pretty soon Deathbringer came back to where the Professor was, dragging Kitty's body behind him.

"Do you see this, old man??? The corpse of your student??? Now do you see what I am capable of??? I'll tear you all apart! One by one..." And just as ghosts and spirits began to surround him again, Jean, Scott, Evan and Rogue arrived.

"Not if we have anything to say about it!" Scott called. Deathbringer turned around to see the four standing there. He laughed once again and moved from the Professor, to the four of them, ghosts still flying everywhere. Evan, out of reflex, shot spikes out of his body. Deathbringer went intangible and every one og them missed their target.

"Do you honestly think you can stop me?"

The ghosts went wild. Flying wherever they please. About three or four of them chased Scott and Jean over to a large tombstone and entrapped them there. Scott sat, back up against the freezing stone, eyes fixed on the sight before him. Jean was sitting, too. She scooted over to Scott and put her head on his chest.

"Scott, what do we do??" she questioned, a small sqeak in her voice, obviously cause by the fear in her heart. Scott froze there. He tried to fire lasers from his eyes at the spirits, but they just went right through them. Now he was in trouble.

"I don't know, Jean. I just don't know."

**How was it? Slightly short, I know. Sorry. Hope you enjoyed it anyway! :]**


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